Out of Time

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 April Sadowski

Cover model is Rayna Pitter (Shiskababe). Design by
April Sadowski.

Discover other titles by April Sadowski at
Smashwords.com

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment
only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
If you would like to share this book with another person, please
purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading
this book and did not purchase or obtain it through Smashwords, or
it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to
Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting
the hard work of this author.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced
without written permission except in the case of critical reviews.
Everything in this book is a figment of the imagination (well
technically, my subconscious, because I was dreaming).

This is an adaptation of the free audio drama
available for listening at
http://www.nother.us
.

It was the first day of school for best
friends Sasha and Mandy. They were walking to school after being
dropped off from the bus. The gravel path into the school, which
was an old stone building, built on what used to be a hill and
nearly surrounded by nothing except for a few fields for
extra-curricular sports, was quite narrow and so Sasha ended up
walking on the grass while Mandy walked on the path. The birds
chirped in the background and Sasha smiled, thinking of how fall
could quite possibly be her most favorite season and it was just
around the corner. The leaves had yet to turn color, but the
temperature had dropped to jacket-wearing. Sasha decided to strike
up conversation with her friend.

“So, do you have anything planned for after
school? I was just thinking we should do something together.” she
asked Mandy.

Mandy, a medium-height brunette just shrugged
and twisted one of her curly locks of hair behind her ear. “Yea,
that would be fine if I didn’t have band. You know how much that
takes up my free time. We have sectionals tonight.” Mandy replied.
Sasha missed the human interaction, for the most part because she
didn’t really have much at home. Her mom was generally quite
distant since the death of her father when she was younger.

“Oh. I’m sorry I forgot it was Wednesday.
Maybe tomorrow?” Sasha asked, her voice low.

“Sure.” Mandy replied, “I know it’s the
beginning of the school year and all, but we start up in the summer
so we are all in our cycles by now.”

“Don’t you ever get bored of it?” Sasha
wondered. Mandy really did commit a lot of time to band. At least
in this school, mostly everyone was in band. She got labeled a band
geek, but Mandy didn’t mind at all.

“You’ve never been to BOA Grand Nationals.
The past two years have been amazing. I like meeting people from
different cities and all the traveling gets me out of this box we
live in.” Mandy commented, a tinge of excitement in her voice.
There wasn’t much to do in this town and sports were generally all
high schoolers did to keep themselves amused. They couldn’t even
drive to school. Apparently in the 1970s there was an accident with
some students and the school had banned all students from driving
to school. You had to have permission and a card to hang from the
rear-view mirror.

“I guess I didn’t think about that. It could
be fun, but I don’t know since I don’t play an instrument.” Sasha
said, letting out a sigh as they ebbed ever closer to the
building.

“If you wanted to, you could probably play
drums or something. Those are pretty easy to pick up if you have a
knack for keeping a rythym.” Mandy offered.

“Really, don’t they have that developmentally
challenged person on the drums?” Sasha wondered. She wasn’t trying
to be rude about it, just stating facts, but Mandy’s expression
turned sour.

“He’s really good at it.” Mandy noted,
pausing to adjust her backpack while Sasha shifted
uncomfortably.

“Oh.” Sasha said quietly.

“Anyway...” Mandy said, trying to divert the
conversation to something lighter.

“Are you excited for the new school year?
We’ve only got one more left until we graduate.” Sasha wondered
with a smile.

“Yea, but I don’t know what I want to do in
college. I know I’ll probably end up being a music major. Then
again, I don’t know if I want to get into music theory,
performance, or education.” Mandy told her, adding, “What about
you?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Maybe some kind of
art career. I don’t think I’m very good at anything else.” Sasha
said. She had taken some art classes in school, and she had lined
up a commercial art class in her courses for this year. She always
took a few art classes and wished she was able to schedule more in,
but other subjects took priority.

“What about the
other
thing?” Mandy
offered.

“Seriously? You can’t make a living being a
medium.” Sasha responded. She hadn’t ever thought about her special
gift as a profit-making one. Of course, Mandy was the only one that
knew about it and she wanted to keep it that way.

“Uh...
yea
you can can. Look at all
those commercials on TV. Look at
TV
! They’ve got shows for
people like that.” Mandy said excitedly. Sasha thought it about it
for a minute.

“It’s not like I can just tell my mom, ‘I’m
going to be a medium’ you know.” she said to Mandy sarcastically.
Mandy huffed in response.

“But you can see things. You
know
things!” Mandy told her. It was true. Sasha could sometimes see
imprints of the past as they were related to the dead. It rarely
happened, and when it did she wasn’t sure whether she was just
imagining it in her dreams. She certainly didn’t want to become
someone’s science project.

“You are the
only
person that knows
about it and I want it to stay that way. I don’t want people to
think I’m weird or crazy.”

“I guess it would be weird for some people.”
Mandy said solemnly. She didn’t feel very helpful, but it wasn’t
though it was her fault. Sasha could sometimes be a little cold and
Mandy knew Sasha wasn’t even aware of it when she was.

“No kidding. I don’t want to end up in a
psych ward.” Sasha laughed out her reply sarcastically.

“Well, we are here.” Mandy said as they
stopped walking. The words “Everidge High School” were etched above
the door in the stone in front of them.

“Let’s go in.” Sasha told her.

Sasha and Mandy entered their first
classroom, which they had together. Luckily students were sometimes
able to request a class in the same time period as their friends.
The staff at Everidge thought it would be beneficial if the
students were more comfortable with their classmates. They weren’t
allowed to talk during class hours of course, but the students did
seem to pay more attention.

They took their seats and one of their
friends called to them from another seat while they waited for the
teacher to come in. “Have you heard about Betsy?”

“Who is Betsy?” Sasha asked, turning to
address Simon. Simon was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome.
He had piercing blue eyes, messy brown hair, and a very athletic
build. Sasha might have had a crush on him, but she always
dismissed the idea as he never seemed to have an interest in
her.

“She was a junior last year. I heard she
vanished from the school.” he said to Sasha as if he was telling a
ghost story. Sasha turned to look at Mandy and noticed her eyebrow
upturned.

“
From
the school?” Mandy inquired.

“More like
in
the school.” Simon
stated. Sasha rolled her eyes. Simon was very playful and liked to
get a rise out of his female friends. He was a prankster and making
up a story to scare them was right up his alley.

“Honestly?” Sasha asked, her jaw dropping
slightly.

“Would I lie?” Simon said with forced
seriousness.

“You’ve ben known to.” Mandy said to him.
Before he could say anything more in defense, they were
interrupted.

“So, we should like totally go through the
school and look for her body or something.” It was Kendra, the
all-American blonde bombshell of a cheerleader. She liked to hang
around Simon, probably because she thought he was deliciously hot
and a great athlete.

“Start in the attic.” Simon said, a tone of
mystery and contained excitement in his voice.

“The attic?” Sasha wondered. “Is there even
one in here?”

“You haven’t heard the stories about the
attic?” Simon asked in a hushed whisper, suspenseful even. “There’s
a door that leads to nowhere.”

Kendra flipped her hair and said, almost
pouty, “That’s
ridiculous
Simon. Who ever heard of a door
going nowhere?”

“Actually,” Mandy said with a finger raised,
her voice airing a tone of intellectual prowess. “There is a house
in California, I think, with a bunch of doors that go nowhere. It
was supposed to channel spirits or something. It’s a huge mansion
that was never finished and they just kept adding to it.”

“I think I saw that on TV.” Sasha noted with
realization. “The History Channel did a special.”

“I remember watching that!” Kendra exclaimed
dramatically. Everyone turned to look at her.

“
You
watch the History Channel?!”
Mandy asked surprised.

“
Yea
. My mom thinks it’ll make me
smarter.” the cheerleader answered, raising her head high in a smug
pose.

“Dunno if it’s working.” Simon said through a
snicker. In a violent rage, as much as could be expected in a
classroom, Kendra slapped Simon on his arm. “Hey! That hurt!”